Full day in Mason Co. Courthouse

Friday

Several major cases advanced Thursday in Mason County Criminal Court. Here are a few of the most significant:

Several major cases advanced Thursday in Mason County Criminal Court. Here are a few of the most significant:

Loda man pleads not guilty

The 35-year-old Loda man who allegedly stole a truck with guns in it and then broke into a Havana man’s house and ate his candy bars out of the freezer pleaded not guilty at his preliminary hearing.

Nothing new came out of the preliminary hearing testimony from Mason County Sheriff’s Deputy Fred Ray, except the information that the candy bar that William J. Broerman ate without permission was a Mounds bar.

According to court records, Broerman said he remembers drinking at a bar in Paxton, Ill., and then remembers driving a red Chevy pickup truck and holding a gun with no knowledge of where he got the items. He drove around for hours before stopping outside of the Havana man’s house. He pushed the screen of the door in, unlocked it, went in and began eating candy bars from the freezer because he was hungry.

The Havana man said he woke to the sound of a stranger’s voice that morning. He called out and the voice told him to get dressed and come downstairs because he had a gun.

The Havana man got dressed, grabbed his own gun and, according to Ray, went downstairs to find Broerman eating the Mounds bar. The man acknowledged Broerman’s gun and Broerman took it out of his pocket and handed it over. Then the two waited for law enforcement on the front lawn.

The owner of the truck in Paxton was contacted and said he gave nobody permission to take it. He said inside the truck was the .45-caliber handgun which Broerman had brought in the house and a 12-gauge shotgun, which officers found in the truck upon searching the vehicle.

The shotgun was not loaded and the handgun, while containing a fully loaded clip, had no round chambered.

Broerman’s attorney, Public Defender Roger Thomson, filed a written motion to obtain an exam to determine if his client is fit to stand trial. If Broerman is found to be fit for trial, he will be put on the January trial calendar beginning Jan. 9.

Bath man pleads not guilty to home invasion, battery

A Bath man pleaded not guilty to several charges stemming from a May incident in which he allegedly kicked in his ex-girlfriend’s door and physically attacked her.

Christian F. Miller, 33, allegedly kicked in the door to his ex-girlfriend’s rented trailer on the morning of May 19.

According to testimony by Detective Rod Boggs of the Havana Police Department, the victim told police that Miller dragged her by her hair onto the porch, where he kneed her in the face and torso and pulled out chunks of hair. When she tried to flee the scene, he allegedly choked her and continued the assault until she managed to run next door to where her landlord lived.

A male friend who was staying with her corroborated her story, as did the landlord.

According to Boggs, the victim had a cut above her right eye that required stitches and a “pretty good knot” above her left eye and on her left elbow.

When questioned by police, Miller allegedly said he had given the door a “heave ho” but did not mean to kick it in. He also reportedly told police he was living at the trailer and that he had a key, though he said he did not receive his mail there.

Miller has been charged with home invasion, which carries a possible sentence of 30 years in prison as a Class X felony. He has also been charged with aggravated domestic battery and domestic battery with a prior conviction. He was convicted of domestic battery in 2009.

Jacob A. Morris, 21, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine-making materials as well as conspiracy to manufacture meth.

Morris, who according to court records was arrested when police tracked down the truck Morris’ father had reported as stolen, received two years of probation and more than $2,000 in fines and fees as part of a negotiated plea agreement.

Police found the truck outside a Havana residence and found an open backpack sitting in the truck bed with meth-making materials clearly visible inside. There were also more materials in the truck bed, on the ground next to the truck, and in the truck’s cab.

Morris was found in the residence where Timothy Walker, his alleged co-conspirator, was present. Police found more materials in Walker’s bedroom.

Walker made his first appearance Thursday. He has been charged with identical charges as Morris, and will make his first appearance with counsel Oct. 10.

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